O hooly, hooly she rose up

[rolanni]

The cold appears to be in retreat. At least, I can breathe, which has to be counted a Good Thing. Also, I was able to get some work done, arriving this afternoon at the point I had expected to reach last Sunday. Not as Good a Thing, but for'ard progress nonetheless.

One of the days when I was too miserable to move, I lay in bed and listened to NPR, kind of dozing in and out. In this way, I half-heard a talk about ballads, and how the form had traditionally been open source, with every bard and barmaid who sung a particular ballad embroidering and/or altering it as they pleased. Nowadays, the form is no longer open source; we know if a certain ballad was written by Springsteen or Dylan and the song is sung as the writer intended. One of the people in the discussion group allowed as how we had lost some richness in the process, but was inclined to feel that it was more than balanced by our being able to know who the songwriter was, thus gaining All Kinds of Depth and Insight into the Song.

Which, even in my depleted state, was...a shock. I didn't realize that Actual Grownups believe that knowing the artist or writer's background shines the bright light of Discovery upon their work.

After I became less miserable, I graduated to the couch and read. Miss Melville Regrets by Evelyn E. Smith (sadly out of print -- but plenty available on the used book sites) is a hoot and a half -- the story of how a middle-aged society spinster took up the gentle art of assassination.

I'm sorry to say that Thunderbird Falls was not nearly as entertaining. This may have had something to do with the fact that the only character I actually liked got killed. Also? I had a headache.

Am now reading Richard Burton's account of his journey to Mecca, which is fascinating and notable for the absolute clarity of its prose.

And now I'm at the computer, getting ready to swear off for the night, consult with kinzel, and I dunno, do the dishes or something...

Comments

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize that Actual Grownups believe that knowing the artist or writer's background shines the bright light of Discovery upon their work.


wel, it might let you see more of their work .....


but what do I know I discribe myself as the folk process at work when I sing I forget the lyrics (and notes) so often....

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Breathing is good!

I can reassure you that the the folk process is alive and well, and it doesn't acknowledge only one 'correct' version. Indeed, there are few singers who even sing their own songs the same way every time (Dylan and Springsteen certainly don't). 'Covers' of songs are often quite different from the originals, even in the pop world. A lot of songwriters are pleased when they hear a variant version of their songs, as long as the singer doesn't try to claim the song as their own or that their version is 'correct' ("Open Source" doesn't imply "no authorship") -- a friend of mine was once singing one of his own songs and was interrupted by someone who told him that he was "singing it wrong"!

Yes, we can often identify that a particular song was by a specific composer, but that's largely a matter of style -- particular chord sequences, or use of poetic forms, or intervals, or timing, etc. We can do that even with music which was all "Open Source", the styles of JS Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann etc. are quite distinct (not always, Bach adapted some Vivaldi and put his own style on it, the same as Springsteen singing a Dylan song will add his style).

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you're doing better.

Movies... Did you see Edward Norton in The Illusionist?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I just tried to copy Chapter Two of "Fledgling" into the Word doc where I had pasted Chapter One last week. This time though, the doc converted each paragraph break into a page break. Bill Gates up to no good again?